Re-Loading Your Own

To learn and introduce new loaders. Tips and tricks from old timers.

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AlanM
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Post by AlanM »

BobK wrote:I did make up a nice reloading form in Excel that lets me track all the loads. Each page corresponds to one 50 round case. I'll mark which magazine has which rounds and then track the results. For any 5 round group, I know the charge used, the OAL, the group size, and which rounds failed to feed.

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Are you going to share it?

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AlanM
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shooterwolf
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Post by shooterwolf »

BigV wrote:
shooterwolf wrote:With your 45 load you are right around max. When you run Unique in medium to max loads it burns clean. Reduced loads with Unique are really dirty.

Welcome to the reloading section. :wink:
Shooterwolf.
The reloading manual I am using is the Speer Reloading Manual #14 and it shows the range for the 230gr FMJ at 5.5 min to 6.5 Max using Unique powder.
Another publication (the name eludes me at this time) shows the optimum charge at 6.0gr. for 230 FMJ using Unique. Since I am new to reloading, I figured middle range at 6.0 would be fine.
I want to make sure I am not pushing the limits, so your saying 6.0 is pushing that limit using Unique?
Thanks
You can look at 5 manuals and get 5 max. loads. Aways start at the min. and work up. I know a couple of guys that run 6.5 grns Unique and are quite happy with it. My gun runs 6 grns. Unique and I'm happy with it.

Every gun is different, find out what your gun likes. Faster ain't always better.


Shooterwolf.
BigV
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Post by BigV »

shooterwolf wrote:
BigV wrote:
shooterwolf wrote:With your 45 load you are right around max. When you run Unique in medium to max loads it burns clean. Reduced loads with Unique are really dirty.

Welcome to the reloading section. :wink:
Shooterwolf.
The reloading manual I am using is the Speer Reloading Manual #14 and it shows the range for the 230gr FMJ at 5.5 min to 6.5 Max using Unique powder.
Another publication (the name eludes me at this time) shows the optimum charge at 6.0gr. for 230 FMJ using Unique. Since I am new to reloading, I figured middle range at 6.0 would be fine.
I want to make sure I am not pushing the limits, so your saying 6.0 is pushing that limit using Unique?
Thanks
You can look at 5 manuals and get 5 max. loads. Aways start at the min. and work up. I know a couple of guys that run 6.5 grns Unique and are quite happy with it. My gun runs 6 grns. Unique and I'm happy with it.

Every gun is different, find out what your gun likes. Faster ain't always better.
Shooterwolf.
Thanks, I have shot 6.0gr Unique with 230 fmj and they seem to work fine in the two .45, 1911 guns I have shot them in. So it looks like I will stick to that load for awhile.
BigV
Sasquatch.45
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Post by Sasquatch.45 »

A little something that I thought that I would bring up, I can’t remember where I saw it asked, but it is noteworthy here.
Someone once asked why one manual said that they could use a charge of (just pulling the numbers out of my but here…) 5.5 grains with a 230 grain FMJ, while another manual said that they could only go to 5.3 grains of the same powder with their 230 grain FMJ.
If you look at different manuals, you will notice that they will often use different brands of bullets. Even though they are the same weight, If a bullet has a longer taper, It will (generally) be seated deeper into the case to maintain OAL than say a short, fat bullet of the same weight.
Generally speaking, seating the bullet deeper will require reducing the charge by a factor because of the minor pressure increase associated with reducing the volume behind the bullet.
Use extreme caution when substituting bullets within a recipe if the overall length of the bullet is longer, or of a shape that would require seating the base further in the case than the specified projectile within any given recipe.
I have worked up loads already for bullets that I have not had an exact recipe match for, but it was only after doing numerous calculations and extrapolations based on comparisons of performance curves of similar known bullets, and even then, I start low, and work up.
For beginners, I would not recommend this practice. Instead, look at your reloading manual before you shop.
This way you wont get home with your keg of powder and box of bullets and find after purchasing them that you don’t have a recipe to accommodate both.
I like to pick powders that I can use for multiple calibers, but unfortunately, have not yet found a universal powder that gives satisfactory performance for everything.
I am currently running a lot of 700-X, not because I think it is a great powder, (Its OK, but not the cleanest burning) but because it is a cheep compromise for both .45 and 9mm, which are what I primarily use, and the MEK eats a lot of it too.
I am also very found of Blue-dot, because it is cleaner burning, but generally speaking, it uses twice the weight in grains to do the same thing, so it costs twice as much.
For ultra-light cartridges, like say the .380, this is great though, as having twice the powder of the otherwise miniscule load of 700-X means that a .1 grain deviation from the powder measurer amounts to a smaller percentage deviation of the overall weight.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, there is a lot of math involved in reloading. If you are not good with a pencil and paper, you might want to add a calculator to the reloading bench.
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BobK
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Post by BobK »

AlanM wrote:
BobK wrote:I did make up a nice reloading form in Excel . . .

WELL??
Are you going to share it?
Sure, if I knew how. If someone wants to PM me with their email address, I can email it to them.
I am a: NRA Life Member, Texas State Rifle Association Life Member, Texas Firearms Coalition Gold member, OFCC Patron Member, former JFPO member (pre-SAF).

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Buckshot
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Re: Reloading

Post by Buckshot »

Sneakypete wrote:I reload .357 Mag, .44 Mag, .50 AE, 9 mm, .40, .45. 223, 303 Br, 7.62x51, .30 carbine, 45-70, 30-30Win, 30-06, in other words , everything . I have ran into a (very) few problems over the years, most of them were solved by reading the book. I use a Speer manual, but they are pretty much all the same, ATTENTION TO DETAIL is the key. I prefer to use the same powder for as many calibers as I can, cuts down on inventory, powder is fresher. Reloading is the only way to go if you put a lot of rounds downrange in a week, as I do. Autopistols (esp 1911's), generally don't like wadcutters :D
Sneaky Pete,

Not a bad list at 13, but no where near EVERYTHING.

I have dies for 44 separate calibers (no duplicate die sets counted, as I have both mine and Dad's now) here, and I am no where near EVERYTHING YET!

If you guys want to quit fighting powder measures, get THE powder measure, the Lyman #55.

Buckshot
Buckshot
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Post by Buckshot »

shooterwolf wrote:
BigV wrote:
shooterwolf wrote:With your 45 load you are right around max. When you run Unique in medium to max loads it burns clean. Reduced loads with Unique are really dirty.

Welcome to the reloading section. :wink:
Shooterwolf.
The reloading manual I am using is the Speer Reloading Manual #14 and it shows the range for the 230gr FMJ at 5.5 min to 6.5 Max using Unique powder.
Another publication (the name eludes me at this time) shows the optimum charge at 6.0gr. for 230 FMJ using Unique. Since I am new to reloading, I figured middle range at 6.0 would be fine.
I want to make sure I am not pushing the limits, so your saying 6.0 is pushing that limit using Unique?
Thanks
You can look at 5 manuals and get 5 max. loads. Aways start at the min. and work up. I know a couple of guys that run 6.5 grns Unique and are quite happy with it. My gun runs 6 grns. Unique and I'm happy with it.

Every gun is different, find out what your gun likes. Faster ain't always better.


Shooterwolf.
Shooterwolf,

You will look at 5 manuals and get 5 different MAX loads, but they will be within a grain or so on pistol loads or within 5 grains or less on rifle, OR YOU SHOULD DISCARD THE ODDLY HIGH ONE!

I never start at the very minimum unless I want that light a load.

I will start anywhere up through half on the list, and usually work up to three quarters or, in some cases, up to the last step before MAX on the charts. This is if you have a chart like Sierra or Hornady uses. You can do about the same with the Speer list, you just have to do it mathmatically since they only list their beginning load and theri MAX load.

Buckshot
shooterwolf
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Post by shooterwolf »

Buckshot,

I'm glad your method works for you. Some of my best loads (accurate) work out on the lower to mid range. Fastest ain't always the best.


Shooterwolf.
Buckshot
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Post by Buckshot »

shooterwolf wrote:Buckshot,

I'm glad your method works for you. Some of my best loads (accurate) work out on the lower to mid range. Fastest ain't always the best.


Shooterwolf.
For Max Accuracy just look in the various Lyman Manuals and use their notes for Accuracy Loads.

I generally make my loads right at factory.

.45 ACP 230 gr. moving at 830 - 850 FPS, that kind of thing.

I don't shoot bullseye, so I am not looking for that kind of accuracy, I want my loads to be consistant with standard factory loads for the caliber, matching my range and practice loads to serious use ammo from the factory.

Buckshot
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